Sep.27

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Shutdowns Have a Long and Not Glorious History

Since 1980, there have been 14 government shutdowns. Many were caused by the two parties not agreeing on what should be in the budget. In the past, they often ended up compromising since it was just about money. Now the Freedom Caucus wants to burn the house down. That is really different. It is hard to burn down half a house. Here is a brief rundown of shutdowns since 1980.

• Started Nov. 20, 1981, 2 days: The Democratic House and Republican Senate passed different spending bills so the government shut down on Saturday night at midnight. Neither of them had the spending cuts President Ronald Reagan wanted. On Sunday, a conference committee worked out a compromise and both chambers passed it. On Monday, Reagan vetoed the compromise but later in the day the two chambers passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until a deal could be worked out, which it eventually was.
  
  
• Started Sept. 30, 1982, 1 day: A year later there was another brief shutdown but for different reasons. Reagan invited all members of Congress to a barbecue at the White House while Democrats held a $1,000 per plate fundraiser. So both parties were away when the clock struck midnight. The next day Congress passed a bill to stop the shutdown.
  
  
• Started Dec. 17, 1982, 3 days: The third shutdown during the Reagan administration was due to Reagan's objection to the Democrats moving billions of dollars from the MX missile program to a job creation program. Eventually there was a compromise bill that included funding for legal support for low-income Americans but no funding for the missile program. Everybody swallowed hard and Reagan signed the bill.
  
  
• Started Nov. 10, 1983, 3 days: Reagan administration again, for the fourth time. House Democrats cut foreign aid and added $1 billion for education. Republicans didn't buy this. Eventually a bill passed with the cuts to foreign aid intact but the education funding dropped to $100 million. There was also some money for the MX missile program.
  
  
• Started Sept. 30, 1984, 2 days: Same cast of characters for Reagan #5. There were disputes over funding for measures against crime, water projects, and whether colleges that did not accept federal money were subject to Title IX's requirements. To end the shutdown, Congress passed and Reagan signed a 2-day continuing resolution.
  
  
• Started Oct. 3, 1984, 1 day: The continuing resolution ran out and still nothing was resolved, so there was another shutdown 3 days later. This time Democrats caved on the water projects and civil rights funding and agreed to the funding for law enforcement.
  
  
• Started Oct. 16, 1986, 1 day: Another mini-shutdown. Democrats wanted to add more funding for welfare and Republicans didn't. Eventually Democrats gave up to end the stalemate.
  
  
• Started Dec. 18, 1987, 1 day: By now, Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress but Reagan was still president. Reagan wanted to provide aid to the Contras in Nicaragua and Democrats wanted to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that the FCC repealed earlier in 1987. That doctrine required broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues. Eventually Democrats mostly caved, approving "nonlethal" aid to the Contras but giving up on the Fairness Doctrine.
  
  
• Started Oct. 5, 1990, 3 days: By 1990, Reagan was gone and George H.W. Bush was president. The Democrats still controlled both chambers of Congress. Bush threatened to veto any spending plan that did not reduce the deficit, so no spending bill was passed. Three days later he signed a continuing resolution to keep the government open so more negotiations could occur.
  
  
• Started Nov. 13, 1995, 5 days: By 1995, the U.S. had a Democratic president but the wave election of 1994 gave Republicans control of both chambers of Congress. This was the first time in 40 years that Republicans controlled the House and Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) was definitely feeling his oats. He didn't like Bill Clinton's 1993 tax increase and wanted to reverse it. Eventually a 1-month CR was passed and signed.
  
  
• Started Dec. 15, 1995, 21 days: After 3 weeks passed, nothing had been resolved and both sides dug their heels in. Now the shutdowns were starting to get serious. Again it was Gingrich vs. Clinton. It was the battle of the projections. The Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget projected very different situations over 7 years. Eventually, after 21 days, then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R) gave a speech on New Year's Eve saying that the shutdown had gone on too long, so he accepted the OMB projection.
  
  
• Started Sept. 30, 2013, 16 days: With Democrats controlling the Senate, Republicans controlling the House, and Barack Obama now president, conflict was inevitable. Surprisingly, it took 4 years to boil over. The issue was the ACA ("Obamacare"). Republicans wanted to dismantle it. Democrats refused. Republicans shut down the government to make their point. After a bit over 2 weeks, Speaker John Boehner (R) threw in the towel, conceded that they were not going to be able to dismantle it with Democrats in control of the Senate, and passed a CR.
  
  
• Started Jan. 19, 2018, 2 days: This one happened even though the Republicans had the trifecta under Donald Trump. Senate Democrats demanded protections for the "dreamers" (people who came to the U.S. illegally as small children). Republicans refused. Eventually, the Democrats caved.
  
  
• Started Dec. 21, 2018, 34 days: Here is the biggie, more than a month. A key element was Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to pay for a wall on the Mexican border because Mexico was not keen on paying for it. When the shutdown began, Republicans had the trifecta. But on Jan. 3, 2019, Democrats took over the House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi got Congress to pass a CR and reopen the government. Three weeks later, Congress passed a budget that included $1.375 billion for the border wall, less than a quarter of what Trump wanted.
  

So as you can see, shutdowns have occurred regularly in the past. But they were often resolved within a few days when the two sides simply compromised. That seems unlikely now because the Freedom Caucus does not want compromise. It wants blood. (V)